Valentin Klotzbücher

Welcome to my personal website!

I am a statistician in the Department of Clinical Research at University Hospital Basel. Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Freiburg, were I defended my Ph.D. in Economics in 2022.

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I believe that rigorous, quantitative analysis is essential for effective policy and real progress. In my published work, I have analyzed high-frequency data on crisis helpline calls to track public health trends1–3 and examined the political economy of terrorism and organized violence.4,5 I have also contributed to meta-science projects on reproducibility in social science,6,7 and I support The Unjournal in commissioning independent evaluations of high-impact research.8,9

1.
Brülhart, M., Klotzbücher, V., Lalive, R. & Reich, S. K. Mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic as revealed by helpline calls. Nature 600, 121–126 (2021).
2.
Brülhart, M., Klotzbücher, V. & Lalive, R. Young people’s mental and social distress in times of international crisis: Evidence from helpline calls, 2019–2022. Scientific Reports 13, 11858 (2023).
3.
Armbruster, S. & Klotzbücher, V. Lost in lockdown? COVID-19, social distancing, and mental health in Germany. Covid Economics: Vetted and real-time papers 22, 117–153 (2020).
4.
Klotzbücher, V., Krieger, T. & Meierrieks, D. Class warfare: Political exclusion of the poor and the roots of social-revolutionary terrorism, 1860-1950. Defence and Peace Economics 32, 6681–697 (2021).
5.
Klotzbücher, V. & Schulze, G. Tourism. in The Cambridge Handbook on the Economics of Terrorism (eds. Basuchoudary, A. & Schulze, G. G.) 442–456 (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
6.
Nick Huntington-Klein, I. M. with, Claus Pörtner & The Many Economists Collaborative. The sources of researcher variation in economics. NBER Working Paper 33729, (2025).
7.
Brodeur, A. et al. Comparing human-only, AI-assisted, and AI-led teams on assessing research reproducibility in quantitative social science. Institute for Replication (I4R) Discussion Paper 195, (2025).
8.
Anonymous Evaluators (3), Reinstein, D. & Klotzbücher, V. Evaluation summary and metrics: "Selecting the most effective nudge: Evidence from a large-scale experiment on immunization". The Unjournal (2024).
9.
Anonymous Evaluators (2), Reinstein, D., Jintcharadze, D. & Klotzbücher, V. Evaluation summary and metrics: "The wellbeing cost-effectiveness of StrongMinds and Friendship Bench: Combining a systematic review and meta-analysis with charity-related data". The Unjournal (2025).